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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs Microsoft Dynamics CRM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Busi...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
ERP (3rd), Activity Based Costing Software (2nd)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (1st), CRM (2nd), Local Government CRM (1st), Marketing Management (2nd), Sales Force Automation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics CRM aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed for ERP and holds a mindshare of 6.5%, down 6.9% compared to last year.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM, on the other hand, focuses on CRM Customer Engagement Centers, holds 26.1% mindshare, up 25.4% since last year.
ERP
CRM Customer Engagement Centers
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user514128 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 15, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

StefaanVandesompele - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides end-to-end accounting and finance module at reasonable pricing
365 Business Central integrates with Office 365 to streamline the invoice approval process. This allows businesses to manage and approve invoices efficiently within a unified system. Our organization plans to transition to the Dynamics 365 environment, where various functions will be centralized. We will consolidate everything into one system instead of maintaining multiple databases for each country with local data. Dynamics 365 is fully integrated, which should address many of our challenges when we migrate to this new environment. We look forward to seeing how it performs in practice. The project is progressing well overall, though integrating it with other tools and ensuring Dynamics 365 operates smoothly can be challenging. Dynamics 365 is user-friendly and effective. However, a deeper understanding of its technical capabilities and architecture might be necessary to optimize its use fully. The software landscape is evolving, and achieving the best reporting and functionality with just a click can be complex. A clear vision of what you want to achieve with Dynamics 365 is essential. Proper preparation and configuration are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes. This principle applies not only to Dynamics 365 but to all software packages. Understanding the system's flexibility and adaptability based on your specific business needs is key to its successful implementation. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Arun Srivastav - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use and integrates well with emails, WhatsApp, and SMS gateways
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the campaign feature. The solution's campaign feature allows you to collate a group of customers and the frequency of email notifications sent to them. You can put an advertising budget for a series of customers, whereby high net-worth individuals will be marketed for high-end products. Low-end customers will be in a different campaign. So, we run campaigns on different sectors of customers. One of the solution's good features is integration because it directly integrates with Microsoft tools. Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams are built into it. The solution gives a varied network of text and email gateways, which are already integrated and come with the package.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"I have found the flexibility to be very valuable. It's highly flexible, and at least for us, it has been effective. It is also highly functional."
"It's quite useful for our production line, and it's easy to configure to our requirements."
"NAV covers everything from purchasing and selling items to invoicing. Everything is within NAV, so it's all very neat."
"The security feature, particularly the encryption, which still builds sensitivity, is one of the most valuable features."
"It is a stable solution."
"We use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as CRM."
"Its most valuable feature is the user interface."
"The vertical covers all aspects of functionality and integrates easily with the existing Office products."
"Microsoft Dynamics is user-friendly and intuitive. It's easy to understand how it works."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM brings the most value in terms of its ease of implementation."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM has the same features as Salesforce CRM, but what I like about the solution is that it's customizable. It's also one of the top-rated CRMs in the market. I also like that the coverage system of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is very, very broad, which means you can do a lot with it versus what you can do with Salesforce CRM."
"Right now we're using the financial features, and we haven't tried the inventory. It's useful more on the financial side."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a comprehensive solution and is well-integrated into other Microsoft solutions, including ERP solutions. Additionally, it is feature-rich."
"It integrates well with other Microsoft products."
"The way it effectively works with the array of other Microsoft tools, such as Azure, is valuable. It works very well with the use of data linking and things like that. Overall, it is a great overall tool to have an effective understanding of the transactional background of each of our customers."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is easy to use, the UI is very good, and it has many capabilities."
 

Cons

"The Power BI integration could be more seamless."
"The performance and virtual machine backup is not good with this solution and need improvements."
"We need to customize more often than we would like."
"I work in Pakistan, and many people want desktop solutions. They don't want to work on the cloud. They want a strictly on-premises solution."
"It would be nice, in Microsoft Teams, if we were able to type more information into the chat."
"There are some aspects of the solution that is complex."
"I think Microsoft should improve on the process of how the user decides on a business workflow. For example, there may be some kind of drag-and-drop interface that lets us decide for ourselves how to develop the business workflows that fit our purpose."
"In Thailand, the support here could be better. The process to get an answer is too long."
"This CRM system needs to be more configurable. Its performance still needs improvement, because its screens hang while querying data. It's also not highly scalable, so scalability also needs improvement."
"This solution would be easier to use if everything was displayed on one page, to avoid moving from one tab to another tab to add documents or add comments."
"The UI and GUI could be improved."
"There is room for improvement in handling nonlinear sales processes and complex quoting."
"If there was a bit more automation, specifically for marketing tasks, that would be ideal."
"The product is very old."
"A built-in automation engine to automate parts of workflows would be beneficial. That's the feature I'd be most happy to see expanded. It's currently tagged as simple automation, but I'd love some predictive capability."
"I would suggest enhancements in customization and better integration for testing codes to improve the functionality of Dynamics CRM."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is reasonable."
"The per user price of $100 a month is better than competitors."
"You have to pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."
"There are two types of licenses. One is the essential license in which everything is covered, and the next is the premium. If your company is a manufacturing or service management company, then you can go for the premium license because those two modules are the premium ones. You can manage your manufacturing activities and your service activities."
"The solution's license is costly compared to other CRM tools."
"The solution is a little bit expensive."
"NAV might be a little pricey for a small or medium-sized company, but all the solutions out there are."
"I think the pricing is the best; it's cost effective for sure."
"Microsoft often encourages customers to commit to multi-year enterprise-level agreements, such as three or five-year deals with a minimum commitment of, for example, $200,000 dollars. However, in order to acquire more customers, I believe Microsoft should offer this same rate for one-year commitments for customers who want to experience it."
"We have a three-year ELA with all our Microsoft solutions and often we had to do a true-up which was approximately $1,000,000. Additionally, we pay approximately $2,500 a month for support."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is very affordable if you use the yearly subscription."
"The customers that have Microsoft Office 365, the license price is competitive. It is competitive because the next solution above it is Salesforce, which is licensed quite high. The price annually was approximately $55 per user but we did a combination of users with some of them having the higher range of approximately $85."
"Dynamics CRM's pricing is fair."
"It's kind of pricey. It's about $50 or $60 per user."
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a little expensive solution."
"It is a very comprehensive package. We get everything from Access to D 365. We get Microsoft's suite of tools. I'm not too sure about the pricing, but I can't imagine it being cheap."
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Answers from the Community

it_user514128 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 16, 2017
Mar 16, 2017
Dynamic CRM is “workflow” and base on email integration. CRP in Default Micrososoft Dynamic Nav only simple CRP Please see the comment below in web Key factor is where data is held The key factor in determining whether to deploy Dynamics NAV or Dynamics CRM to meet your needs will depend on where the data is held that your CRM processes need to access. If your marketing is based o...
2 out of 10 answers
it_user392145 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 14, 2017
Looking into Dynamics CRM is advisable. CRM as part of Dynamics NAV is limited, can be fine for B2B companies having little CRM requirements. For B2C Dynamics NAV CRM will often be to limited. Integration with social media is not available in CRM of Dynamics NAV. In CRM standard NAV you will find: segmentation, campagnes, tasks, interactions / contact moments, opportunities. But limited functionallity to create workflows within your sales proces (like follow up).
Mar 14, 2017
Hi,  there are certainly limitations with NAV CRM in comparison to Dynamics CRM. To understand whether your specific business requirements needs the additional features or not would require more information. In essence Dynamics CRM is about relationship management and has superb functionality for sales, marketing and customer service. NAV CRM is more an internal focussed operational tool. From the information below, I would be more concerned that you are bespoking your system to the extent indicated. This is not a recommended solution.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
The platform offers a robust and comprehensive cycle for supply chain and inventory management, with features like minimum and maximum settings, dynamic monitoring of inventory levels, and integrat...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?
Implementing localizations when we use the system for multiple countries can be quite complex. There isn't a single solution available for all countries, and managing these localizations can be cha...
What do you like most about Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
The most valuable features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are all the filters and possible reports.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
During a period of time, restoring data and maintaining it could be better in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
I use Microsoft Dynamics CRM because of its flexible design.
 

Also Known As

Dynamics NAV, MS Dynamics NAV
Dynamics CRM, MS Dynamics CRM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Harris Farm Markets, Mister Spex GmbH, Bounce Foods, Eurofin Services SA, Medica Medizintechnik, Associated Gaskets, Onduline, Sitka Surfboard Corporation, World Animal Protection
Metro Bank, Nissan, Pandora, Delta, Haynes International, City of London, Trek and many more market leaders.
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